Danger of Caring
by Andromiel
Summary: [Discontinued!] When feelings between the shinigami arise, and a child's life is in danger, will it all end in disaster? [TatxWa, TsuxHi]
1. Meeting Sogetsu and Kizuki

Title: The Danger of Caring  
  
Author: Andro  
  
Rating: R  
  
Couples: Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Tatsumi/Watari  
  
Summary: Watari and Tatsumi are stuck taking care of a human child while Tsuzuki and Hisoka track down a dangerous killer trying to feed off the souls of people-and the little girl is next. When feelings between the gods of death arise, and a child's life is in danger, will it all end in disaster?  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Yami No Matsuei, but Kazuki and the other original characters are mine. I don't really know why you would want to use them yourself, but just ask if you can use them and I'll probably say yes. I'm only bitchy if you don't ask before hand and claim them as your own basically. =)  
  
Author Notes: I don't know if you've read Ash before this, but if you did, please understand that this will be much, much better. Ash was just a sort of experiment to see what kind of feed back I would get. That was rushed and in no way planned. This will be longer, and more structured. Not too long, probably a little less or more than 10,000 words, but just a nicely sized fic.(Unless you guys want more...) Not to mention Ash was just a sort of spoofy humorous piece of fluff. This will contain angst, violence, humour and romance, with probably a dash of lime. ^.~ As my best friend likes to say-"You gotta make them suffer and then you give them a happy ending. That's the best kind of fic."  
  
As much as I love Muraki, no, I don't believe that he will be showing up in this fic. Believe me, everyone is going to have their hands full just dealing with the bad guy of this particular piece. =) Disturbed bugger this one is. Ahem, yes, well, there are two original characters, but one is just there to freak everyone out and the other is a(hopefully) cute little kid. In any case, on with the fic.  
  
"...Speech.." //--.Thought...\\ ---flashback--- - Emphasis -  
  
*~*~*~  
  
It was cold in the house. There was no life. There were people in the house, but they weren't her family. Mommy and Daddy were gone.  
  
"Poor children..and the oldest is only seventeen.."  
  
The whispers all seemed the same. Soft, muted and there seemed to be hundreds of them.  
  
Trying not to cry, the little girl hugged the purple rabbit to her chest, thin body trembling as she sought to hide herself deeper into the shadows of her corner, away from the crowd of people in black. She didn't recognize -anyone- in the room, they were all strangers. Desperately, her blue eyes sought out someone that she trusted in the sea of pale faced beings, but instead found Sogetsu.  
  
He fit well with the rest. Her step-brother had always lacked color, and against the grim background it seemed he had no skin tone at all. Just a ghostly white. He stood with his hands clamped tightly beyond his back, face strangely expressionless and gray eyes showing hidden pain. All that noticed this only felt more protective over the obviously troubled young man, but Kizuki Mizuro felt her skin crawl with something unpleasant whenever she tried to find comfort in her pseudo sibling, in a way, the only family she had left.  
  
The thought brought on a stricken look on her face and she pressed the worn plush toy close to her. Mommy had gone first. They said it had been too much stress, dealing with a class of unruly seven and eight year olds, and a home life with two kids and a husband. That was the reason her mother had suddenly suffered a deadly car accident in the middle of nowhere with no one around and no sign of intoxication. Just driving back from work after staying an extra couple hours in order to help put up the decorations for Halloween next week. It had been Friday, and the Mizuro family should have gone on a boating trip on the shores of Kyoto the next day, but instead they found themselves being summoned by the police to identify a body.  
  
Her short, teeth bitten nails dug into the soft belly of the toy.  
  
Daddy had died from a heart attack the next month. Taking care of children and dealing with the death of his second wife had gotten to him as well apparently. That had been five days ago. Now he that he was finally laid down next to his dead wife in the commentary, in plots they had not meant to fill for another good thirty years, Kizuki was left alone.  
  
What -would- happen to her? Most likely who ever was in charge would bundle her off with the nearest living relative. Separate her from Sogetsu as well, though the feeling brought neither sadness nor relief to the first grader. Only dread. She would never be rid of Sogetsu. Ever. He would always be there. Somehow, a long forgotten instinct wailed danger from inside of her whenever her step-brother was close. It was a feeling that knew when to run, when a predator was on a path of destruction.  
  
Daring to slowly edge out from beneath her hiding spot, Kizuki walked over to a low table across the room, feeling dozens of eyes following her movements with pity, but she paid them no attention, gaze focused on the picture on the mantle. It had been taken a little over a year ago at a chain store photo place and a fake garden background stood behind the smiling family. Katsu Mizuro had been a tall man with soft brown eyes who had begun to show his age in the sprinkling of silver shot through dark brown hair. He had a kind smile, and a protective arm wrapped around his wife, Sakura, and with the other resting a fatherly hand on his son Sogetsu's shoulder. A stray lock of soft black hair fell over the young man's eye and he was smiling, however faint the expression was. A younger Kizuki was dressed nicely in a sky blue dress with frills that fell around her knees, but she paid no attention to them, only beamed brightly at the camera, her mother's arms wrapped around her shoulders. It was an image of a perfect, handsome family. She stared at it, eyes blank. For some reason, she couldn't cry. There was a wall between her and her tears. Kizuki felt the pain of knowing that she would never see her family again, but the tears would not come.  
  
Angrily she turned away, still clutching Tomoki the violet rabbit to her chest, and escaped into her room, out of view, and for the moment, out of danger.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Watari was late. Or rather, he was bordering on being late to the meeting.  
  
He glanced nervously at the ticking clock hanging on the wall as his steps quickened down the hallway, devoid of other people because they were all ready in the appointed room. A resigned look crossed his features. It wasn't his fault that he'd forgotten about it, still-at least 003 had possessed the present mind to remind him with a series of sharp nips at his ear.  
  
Disgruntled, he gave a dark look at the fluttering owl flying next to him, rubbing the abused ear lightly.  
  
"Did you have to get my attention -that- way?" The scientist demanded, a hint of exasperation threading through his usually cheerful voice. A sharp peep answered a definite "Yes!" leaving him to roll his eyes. He wasn't really angry, just slightly annoyed. His ear -really- hurt!  
  
Or, maybe not, considering with his healing capacities it was completely back to normal, but still, it was the principle of the matter that he had to uphold.  
  
Forcing himself to stop before he kept on walking past the room, Watari opened the door and stepped inside, noting with a cringe that even Tsuzuki was there on time for once. //Ah, well. What can I say? It's not like I do this every day.\\ Watari comforted himself, not meeting Tatsumi's flashing blue eyes at first until he cheered up and flashed the shinigami inside a dazzling grin. "Did I miss anything?"  
  
"As a matter of fac-" The secretary began in a lecturing tone, before another voice broke in.  
  
"No! You didn't miss anything Watari-kun!"  
  
"Aa, thanks Tsuzuki-kun." Sliding into an available seat, 003 fluttered distracted around for a bit longer before settling on his shoulder and ruffling her feathers. He set his elbows on the table, letting his chin drop on the back of his hands.  
  
"So what's up? Why isn't kacho here?"  
  
Indeed, the only ones inside the room were Tatsumi, Hisoka, Tsuzuki and Watari-and 003. The lack of a chief was more than slightly suspicious. Hey, maybe Tatsumi had done him in so he could take over the department... Almost embarrassed, Tatsumi cleared his throat.  
  
"Konoe-sama ate some of the out of season crab I bought last week, and has fallen ill, he will not be joining us for a few days.(1)"  
  
The other three exchanged looks, a tinge of green rising in their faces. They hadn't trusted the foul smelling meat, they had actually refused to come near ten feet of it, if Kanoe had eaten it, no -wonder- he was sick.  
  
"I -knew- it!" Tsuzuki announced triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you it was going to end up killing someone?"  
  
Hisoka raised his eyes to the ceiling, silently asking for more patience in dealing with his partner.  
  
"Kacho hasn't -died-. Idiot."  
  
"Waaai! You don't have to call me an idiot!" Turning pathetically sad eyes on the youngest shinigami, Tsuzuki sniffled for an added effect, violet eyes full of shimmering tears.  
  
Feeling another grin start to twist the corners of his lips up, Watari muffled a chuckle and turned away from the too adorable couple, tilting his head to the side in Tatsumi's direction.  
  
"So-like I said, what's up?"  
  
The brunette secretary waited for another few seconds until the oldest shinigami calmed down enough to only give a quiet sniffle once in a while before beginning.  
  
"Within the past month, Sakura and Katsu Mizuro have died in Tokyo. Their deaths seem innocent enough, save for the fact that their souls have not been judged, because no one can -find- them. They have disagreed completely, we cannot even find traces of them. The man died five days ago supposedly because of a heart attack, but the higher levels apparently think something else was going on." Efficiently, he dropped a folder on the table and opened it, picked up a picture and showed it to his somber audience.  
  
"This is Sogetsu Mizuro, the couple's seventeen year old son. He studies at Sarasuga High school and is the Valedictorian of his senior class." Tsuzuki leaned forward, studying the frozen image with interest.  
  
"He's pretty."  
  
Watari refrained from pointing out that the youth in the photo looked almost like a darker version of Minase Hijiri, a boy who bore a striking resemblance to Kurosaki Hisoka himself. The shinigami in question looked disturbed, but it was he who spoke next.  
  
"They only had one child?"  
  
Setting down the paper, Tatsumi flickered through a few pages before picking up another photo and holding it high.  
  
"No, they had a younger daughter, her name is Kizuki, she's a first grader at the Arashi Elementary." The image showed a little girl with bright blue eyes holding a dirty soccer ball in her arms.  
  
"They're actually step siblings, Sakura and Katsu had previous marriages before, but we've ruled out the possibility that it's something from that direction. Katsu's wife was killed in a car accident about eight years ago, and I manage to get out the boss that she's been reincarnated into a new body for years and is fine in her current position, and Sakura's first husband is now a fake fortune teller. Nothing to worry about."  
  
Taking both photos, Watari set them on the table to compare the two with a critical eye.  
  
"If you hadn't mentioned that they weren't blood related, I would have bet money they were." He commented off handedly, passing them to Hisoka. Tatsumi nodded silently in acknowledgment, then turned to Tsuzuki and Hisoka.  
  
"I believe that Sogetsu and Kizuki Mizuro may be in danger, I would like you depart today, as soon as you can to start scouring around. At least to get yourselves aquatinted with the house and the surrounding area. Both of them will be staying at their house for a few days before a legal guardian is chosen and they are taken away." Tatsumi did not need to mention the last bit that was in his mind, for he knew that it was on the other's minds as well.  
  
That is, if they're not dead by then.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
People were leaving.  
  
She could hear the sound of car doors opening and shutting. Engines starting, and then they would pull out the drive way and leave, to go home and be happy with their lives.  
  
Kizuki shivered.  
  
They were leaving her alone.  
  
As much as she had despised the looks, she didn't want to be alone. Not with him.  
  
Another round of violent shaking started, and the little girl clutched Tomoki to her chest. She imagined hearing footsteps coming up the staircase, slow and planned. Heading towards her door. Perfectly timed, the hand confidently reaching out and grasping the cool metal of her bedroom door and twisting.  
  
In real life, the door swung open and Kizuki squealed fright, then brushed past the figure without bothering to see who it was and fled in terror.  
  
In reality, it had only been a distant cousin coming up to check on her, but Kizuki didn't dare stick around long enough to find out who it was.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Flying on the wings of fear drove her to run long and hard, until finally she collapsed on a park bench, feeling the darkness of the night beginning to reach out for her. She closed her azure eyes tightly, clutching at the toy. Perhaps the dark would give her release. Let her join mommy and daddy. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...  
  
She lay, unmoving for a long while, her tiny heart beating with unnatural rapid pumps, her lungs ached for new air.  
  
Time passed.  
  
A hand touched her shoulder, and Kizuki yelped, lashing out with her fists and feet in a panicked frenzy. Her hits felt upon a solid, large form and she tried harder, not noticing until she was tired of fighting that a voice was telling her hurriedly to calm down. Defeated, she slumped in the man's arms and finally looked up wearily when a hand rubbed the back of her head lightly.  
  
For a moment, she thought of daddy when she looked at the gentle face, but the image was brief and all too fleeting, leaving her in reality with a stranger who had the oddest violet eyes she had ever seen. Suspiciously, she stared at him. "Who are you?" "My name is Tsuzuki. If I put you down, will you promise not to run?" Kizuki nodded in acceptance, too tired to argue. If he wanted to hurt her, he could chase her with no problem.  
  
Looking worried, Tsuzuki set down the girl on the bench again, glancing over his shoulder at his partner, Hisoka, who had staid behind and was now looking at the girl carefully. It was without a doubt Kizuki Mizuro from the picture, though she was different now. Her skin was pallid, deep dark bags outlined her eyes and her hair was greasy, as if no one had bothered to really pay any attention to her for a while. From having had to hold the child while she was fighting, Tsuzuki knew that she was also dangerously thin, her slumped figure easily less than seventy five pounds.  
  
A far cry from the beaming girl in the picture.  
  
Tsuzuki knelt down on one knee to give her a sense of equality between them. "I'm sorry that I scared you, I just wanted to see if you were all right." He said gently, reaching into his pocket and offering her a handkerchief for the tears that had slipped from her ears silently. A peace offering of sorts.  
  
Cobalt eyes blinked at him in surprise, before they darkened and the tears began to fall quicker. Worried, Tsuzuki began to wonder what he'd done wrong when the little girl threw her arms around his neck and let out the frustration, sorrow and anger she'd been holding back for a while.  
  
From a few steps behind him, Hisoka wrapped his arms around himself to ward on the chill of the night and looked at the two quietly, feeling sad for the little girl. Another victim of fate. A cold wind drew stronger, and he thought about what had brought him-them-there.  
  
Less than two hours after the meeting with Tatsumi at four, Tsuzuki and Hisoka had left the world of the dead to find out about as much as they could about their new case. Their first job of course was to check up on how the Mizuro siblings were fairing. They had not expected them to be in a middle of a wake, but at least it would guarantee them some base level of safety while they were around people. Next, they had visited the graves of Katsu and Sakura Mizuro. Nothing. Not even a wisp of soul energy from them. Retracing their steps back to the house had brought on the nasty shock that only Sogetsu was left inside with a handful of others, Kizuki was no where to be found.  
  
With the help of one of Tsuzuki's bird shikigami however, they found her a little over half an hour later at Ueno park, her life force stretched thin with stress, obviously quite frightened from the struggle she put up with the older shinigami.  
  
Turning away abruptly from the scene in front of him, Hisoka gazed off into the North, in the direction the Mizuro house was. Kizuki was not the only one they were supposed to protect, just the more helpless one. He was starting to get worried about the other one, Sogetsu. Not even about a possible soul stealing murderer, but of the boy himself. An orphan with a little sister and an uncertain future was not to be counted completely mentally stable.  
  
Glancing back at his partner, Hisoka deducted that this would last a while longer and decided to go on ahead with out him. He would just be gone for a couple of minutes, not too long hopefully. Just check that Sogetsu was alive and well, then come back to figure out what they were going to do with Kizuki.  
  
With the plan in mind, he began jogging towards the house.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
The first thing he noticed was the lack of cars. Obviously, everyone had left. His brow furrowed. Even Sogetsu? Did he even own a car? A bit more precautions now, and vaguely wishing that he had Tsuzuki or one of the others with him, Hisoka approached the dark building and knocked on the door, only to find that it slowly swung open. His senses were screaming at him to not go in, but he ignored them, walking into the house.  
  
Hisoka's breath caught in his throat in a choking way. A jail. That was what the house felt like. A jail that contained pure, enormous amount of hate and malicious feelings. Cruelty and anger, held back with pure, icy walls of power, perfect arrangement, yet perverted and grotesque in it's perversion of horror.  
  
Clutching at his throat, the empath backed out with broken, wild steps, the back of his mind noting that everything had been destroyed. Mirrors were smashed into thousands of glittering pieces on the floor, with broken frames barely hanging on to the walls. The table had been broken in the middle, as if with a great ax, and the chairs were strewn in pieces over the rooms.  
  
Finally, the shinigami fell on his back, staring with a dazed, horrified expression on his face at the gaping entrance of the structure, trying to draw him in.  
  
He closed his emerald eyes tightly and scuttered back with his hands, trying to put as much distance between himself and that place as possible. Before, he had not felt -anything- like that in the seemingly peaceful home. He gasped for breath, slight tremors shaking his frame. Of course he hadn't felt the first or second time that they had passed by, someone had held all those feelings in perfect control with those disturbing walls that kept things as malignant and strong as those emotions completely controlled, while still letting them play havoc with Hisoka's sharp senses. Though whoever had cast the walls must have lost their temper from the state the rooms were in. Then they must have panicked, and flown. But who had it been? Who had been left when Hisoka had last checked the house? Only Sogetsu and three other people. A baby, an old woman, and someone that felt like a distant cousin of Kizuki. Worry for someone had come from the cousin, the need to feed and sleep from the baby, and the woman had been lost in memories of her better days when she was young.  
  
Hisoka swallowed. That only left Sogetsu. Now that he thought about it, he had felt nothing in particular from the young man. He had assumed that Sogetsu was an intensely private person, and with what had been going on, he had tried to keep all his grief and sadness within him. Another reason the young shinigami had been worried about the other teen. Now he wasn't so sure.  
  
So what if it was Sogetsu? He apparently wasn't in the house anymore, which meant that they had possibly let the culprit escape from their grasp before they had even realized there was a culprit amongst them.  
  
Frustrated, Hisoka let out a string of curses and slammed his fist into the ground.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki listened with dread as his partner described what he had felt and his suspicions. He had been slightly angry to discover that Hisoka had walked off without him, but the gravity of the situation was turning out to be even more dangerous than he had anticipated. He glanced down at the sleeping girl on his lap and pondered.  
  
"He lost it when he realized she was gone...?" He questioned softly, mostly to himself.  
  
Even Hisoka looked unsure, biting his lower lip.  
  
"I can't tell you anything. He fooled me not once, but twice, I can't even tell if he's really human, or something else or if he can even do magic." He confessed, hating himself for it. The one thing that he capable of doing, and it turned out useless.  
  
Tsuzuki flashed him a cheerful smile.  
  
"Don't worry, if it is Sogetsu, than this guy is way better than any of us thought. Tomorrow we'll look for more clues, but for now, I think we might have to take Kizuki back with us to the JuOhCho, it's getting really late."  
  
Hisoka nodded, albeit slightly reluctant, then snorted.  
  
"-You're- explaining this to Tatsumi."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
1.Think about it, it must have been really bad to lay the guy down for days. XD; I mean, he ~is~ a shinigami.  
  
Extra Author note: Sorry for all the drama and bunch of OC spotlight, but later on you get a lot more shinigami POV(esp. Tatsumi/Watari. =) *waves ship banner*) and more comedy. Well, and other stuff, but you get the point. =) I hope you liked it, honestly, review and tell me what you want to see the next part, because if nobody wants it, then it's really not worth putting it up, ne? (I'm not conning for reviews, the point of getting many reviews isn't to be popular, its an honest way of telling the author you like the story and would like more of it.)  
  
And see? This will be longer, I think with the first chapter, this is longer than the other YnM fic all ready. =) And in my honest opinion, much better.  
  
Andro 


	2. Watari's Confusion

Title: Danger of Caring  
  
Author: Andro  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Couples: Tsuzuki+Hisoka, Tatsumi+Watari  
  
Disclaimer: Come on..._ Do I really need to say it? Oh, fine, I don't own these gorgeous guys. 'Sides Sogetsu, Kizuki and Hikaru.  
  
Author Notes: Thank you to all who reviewed. *huggles*  
  
Yes, you'll probably note, but depending on who's POV I'm writing from, the writing kind of tends to change. =) You'll possibly detect it more in Kizuki's parts, where it becomes a bit more humorous and not quite-err-sane? ^^ She's much happier now that she's not stuck around a bunch of creepy grown ups in black. Oh, and from now on it'll be way more shinigami-focused POV, since I just wanted you to sort of know the original characters instead of them just -being- there.  
"Speech"  
  
//Thoughts\\  
  
- Emphasis -  
  
Flashback   
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tatsumi seemed to take their explanation with relative calmness. From behind his computer desk, he deliberately reached up with exaggerated slow movements to pull his glasses down to stare at the three people standing in front of him with cool blue eyes.  
  
"So you decided to bring the child here."  
  
Big eyes, a darker shade of azure than his looked up at her name being mentioned, then the girl gave a squeak and hid behind Tsuzuki, clutching on to his coat. Laying a hand on her head, Tsuzuki gave the secretary an accusing glance.  
  
"Yes, if it is Sogetsu, he won't hesitate to harm her. He's shown no restraint in...doing other things to people." The violet eyed shinigami glanced down at the cowering girl and tugged at her hair to get her attention.  
  
"Can you please wait outside while I talk to him?"  
  
She shot him a hesitant look, threw another glance at Tatsumi and then nodded slightly, still clutching at the worn toy. Without another word she slipped outside, letting the door close behind her. She didn't really want to hear what they were saying anyway.  
  
With curious eyes, Kizuki looked around. It -looked- like what a normal office should look like, but there was no one around. Still, she oddly didn't feel threatened here. Here was safe. Even if Kizuki didn't exactly know where 'here' was. Tsu-chan said that they were in the place that he lived, but she was pretty sure it wasn't Tokyo. It wasn't sakura blossom time at home, but here there were more cherry petals than she'd ever seen -anywhere-. It was almost like the ground was covered in it, and they fell so thick it was like snow. Pink fluffy snow.  
  
Kizuki smiled at her thoughts, recognizing them as being a mode of trying not to think of what was going on and started stroking Tomoki's head, smoothing the rumpled violet fur. At least she didn't have that suffocating feeling anymore, so why not be happy about that? Mommy always said that with the bad things, good things could come too. Her smile wavered slightly, knowing that she wouldn't see Mommy again. Or Daddy. And Sogetsu was responsible somehow.  
  
//Why...?\\ Kizuki wondered silently. He was never really friendly with her, but he had never been cruel. He never teased anyone, or hit them, he just seemed a little bit withdrawn. But his friends all loved him, especially the one that always brought her nice things to eat when he came over. Kizuki frowned. She hoped Sogetsu wouldn't hurt his friends.  
  
The little girl glanced back at the closed doorway. They were taking an awfully long time in there. Surely they wouldn't mind if she looked around a little? From the look of things, she'd be spending time with these people a lot. She didn't mind. The tall one made her feel like she'd done something wrong, like broken a priceless vase, but he didn't seem to want to hurt her.  
  
Shifting from one foot to the other, Kizuki stared at the clock. Was it slowing down? It almost seemed like it was-maybe it was cheating. She stared harder. It was definitely going deliberately slow. The clock was evil. It wanted to give her time to think over all the bad stuff. Well, she wouldn't let it!  
  
Raising her chin up stubbornly, Kizuki looked around for something to entertain herself with and instead detected the very faint sound of someone moving about, speaking. She was almost a hundred percent positive that it was another person; being this close to the office she'd just come out of, she'd have to move away to make sure it wasn't just coming from the other room.  
  
Giving a tiny shrug to herself, Kizuki wandered down the hallway, making sure she remembered where she was going so afterwards she wouldn't get lost. Kizuki tried to be quiet as she neared the door the sounds were coming from, and noted gratefully that whoever was inside had left it partly open. From inside, she could see an abnormal amount of glass gleaming, and she peered inside.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
The blonde scientist dropped back against his chair, defeated for the moment. Absently, he continuously tapped a blue pen against the hard wood of his desk, attention focused on the blank screen that occasionally flashed "NO RESULT FOUND" across the wide expanse. He'd been at it for a little over forty minutes straight without a break, trying to find the souls of the Mizuro family over the islands of Japan, but so far, no luck. It was as if they didn't even exist.  
  
There wasn't even a spiritual residue in the house, which in a way, disturbed him more. When one lived in a place, no matter for how short a time, they tended to leave a tiny bit of themselves there. To find absolutely nothing perturbed the facts the he knew.  
  
Dropping the pen, Watari reached up and flicked open the top of his shirt, feeling the heat get to him. Tatsumi had decided to be a cheapskate again and not put the air conditioning on. It was in fact just the right temperature outside, but within the building, without air circulating, it was getting stuffy and overly warm. Having suspected that this would be the case, Watari had changed into a pair of comfortable jeans and a white button up shirt. To avoid any accidents caused by dipping sleeves into liquids, they had been pulled back up to his forearms. His customary white lab coat was thrown over the back of his chair, since he didn't need at it at that precise moment and it only made things hotter.  
  
Back to the subject at hand, the blond shinigami tilted his head to the side, considering his options. Apparently, searching them by computer wasn't going to cut it. And until he got a report from Tsuzuki and Hisoka, he wouldn't be of much help at all. Maybe he could go help the Goushoshin, they had been put in charge of finding all possible causes of a soul disappearing completely. At least he'd be helping a bit, and Tatsumi wouldn't rag on him for doing nothing.  
  
//Tatsumi...\\ He sighed, playing with the the computer keys. Watari had been part of the force for years, and had watched as the secretary seemed to withdraw more and more; especially since he didn't have a partner and was stuck in his office most of the time, planning budgets. He suspected he knew at least one of the causes why Tatsumi was like that, but the other man always froze him out politely, but firmly whenever he tried to do anything.  
  
The scientist made an face, and let out an exasperated snort. Lately, Tatsumi had taken to simply nodding or shaking his head whenever possible, avoiding directly speaking to him. Now that annoyed him, he could at least speak to him.  
  
Eventually, Watari's senses kicked in and told him that someone was watching him. Blinking, he slowly swiveled his chair and stared, a bit cluelessly at the short kid looking back at him curiously, hanging on to a ridiculously bright purple bunny. Fortunately, memory kicked in at last, and he offered a sheepish smile.  
  
"Kizuki Mizuro, right?"  
  
The girl nodded, if she thought it was odd that he knew her name, she didn't show it, only stretched out her hand.  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
Puzzled, Watari stared at it, and then shook it awkwardly. Why in the world had the child used a Western custom?  
  
Kizuki Mizuro looked perplexed.  
  
"Aren't you gaejin? You don't look Japanese.."  
  
//Oh, so that's it, she thinks I'm American or something.\\ Laughing, the man shook his head, startling 003 who had been quietly taking a nap in it. She flew up, fluttering her small wings indignantly at being woken up suddenly like that. The owl squawked sharply, and Watari sweatdropped, waving his hands around in an apologetic way.  
  
"I'm sorry! But you really shouldn't sleep in my hair, it's not my fault!"  
  
Kizuki stared at the owl, wide eyed. Apparently, she'd never seen one.  
  
"Sweet..." She whispered, reaching up with a hand.  
  
Finding a friendly perch, 003 flew down and sat down on the turned palm, hooting at Watari in a berating way that made reminded him a little too much of the department's shadow user.  
  
"Sorry, sorry." Watari patted the animal lightly on her head, scratching the special spot he knew she couldn't reach and itched constantly. Immediately, the sermon stopped, her ego soothed.  
Glancing from the tiny owl, to the cheerful man with the longest hair she'd ever seen on a person in real life, Kizuki couldn't help but smile, dark mood banished. Someone that treated an animal like that couldn't possibly be bad. She was in good hands.  
  
"Well-in any case, my name is Watari, since you're here, I guess Tsuzuki and Hisoka came back as well?"  
  
In reply to his answer, she nodded, slowly pulling her hand closer towards her body to see 003 up close. She was careful, because she was afraid it would fly off in a frightened flutter.  
  
"Don't worry, 003 is quite intelligent, she knows you don't mean her any harm." Watari reassured the mortal absently, leaving her to play with his pet before sinking into thought. If Kizuki was here, then was Sogetsu here as well? And if so, why where the two here? Tatsumi hadn't said anything about bringing them back... A vaguely grim smile touched upon his lips before it disappeared. The secretary might not be too happy about that. More mouths to feed in his point of view. Oh, well. It was sort of cute to see him getting his feathers ruffled.  
  
An idea occurred to him.  
  
"Say, Kizuki? Does anyone else know you're here?"  
  
*~*~*~  
  
"You really think the brother did it."  
  
"It's a possibility I don't want to ignore." Hisoka replied truthfully, feeling Tsuzuki standing next to him; offering silent support.  
  
"Tsuzuki?"  
  
The violet eyed shinigami gave a brief shrug.  
  
"It's the first day Tatsumi, but yes, I do believe that there is a strong possibility that Sogetsu may in some way be the cause of this mess. Willingly, without meaning to, or with all intention, I'm not sure."  
  
Tatsumi looked resigned. If both of them believed it, and it looked that they did, there was nothing that he could say. //Very well.\\  
  
"What do you plan to do tomorrow?"  
  
It was Hisoka that spoke up.  
  
"Since you say that there is nothing on Mizuro Sogetsu's files that hint that he might even have an inkling of resentment towards his family, or any powers, we've decided to start visiting the people who knew the family the most. Hopefully, they could give us some hint as to why any of this is happening."  
  
Tsuzuki nodded, frowning to himself. That was right-suppocedly, there was nothing on Sogetsu that suggested that he was anything more than a good looking boy with a bright future ahead. The death of his mother had been an accident while he had been playing in the backyard, which was unfortunate, but there hadn't seemed to be any long term trauma. Even if the experience had driven him to do kill his father and step-mother, how had he done it? Where were the souls? It was like a shirt that seemed to fit when you put it on, but then you realized that it was too tight in some places, and too loose in others.  
  
The meeting ended a few minutes later, and Tsuzuki walked out of the privacy of the office.  
  
"What do you think? Should I try my special world famous Tsuzuki's Super Special Spicy Curry for tonight?"  
  
"Not if you want her to live to see her eighth birthday." Hisoka retorted, crossing his arms. //If this idiot feeds her any of -that- junk, she probably will die.\\ While Tsuzuki's food may appear tasty and normal, the taste of it was actually so terrible that everyone knew to avoid his food at all costs.  
  
"Don't be mean! My cooking has gotten better! I mean, it even smells yummy!" The violet eyed shinigami protested loudly, seemingly hurt before he froze, panicked.  
  
"Where's Kizuki?"  
  
"What?" Looking down, Hisoka turned pale at the lack of any blue eyed girls in the vicinity. //Didn't we tell her to stay put!? She's worse than Tsuzuki!\\ Turning to the crying male next to him, Hisoka's irritation rose.  
  
"Stop sobbing, she must be around here somewhere, we weren't talking for Tatsumi for long."  
  
With that, Tsuzuki brightened, forgetting he had just been pouring waterfalls.  
  
"Right! Now, if I were a kid, and I was bored, where would I go?"  
  
Biting back a resort that Tsuzuki -always- acted like a kid, the empath took a deep breath and thought about it. His brow furrowed, an idea dawning.  
  
"She wouldn't..."  
  
Tsuzuki looked hopeful, checking down the hallway.  
  
"Can't hurt to see..."  
  
Hisoka held back a groan. Who else in the department besides Tsuzuki would get along just -fine- with a child? The name of one golden eyed shinigami rose to mind. //Well, it's good news if she -is- with him, at least.\\  
  
All of the sudden he felt himself being dragged by the clothing of his shoulder, making him yelp as Tsuzuki pulled the teenager after him, eager to visit Watari's lab.  
  
"I can walk you know!"  
  
"But you weren't moooving!"  
  
*~*~*~  
  
"-And THAT'S why I think life is like a candy cane."  
  
Two pairs of eyes looked at him confusedly. One pair was blue, the other brown. One belonged to Kizuki, the other to 003 who looked almost suspiciously like she was rolling them in exasperation.  
  
"Uhm...." She blinked, then asked as politely as she could.  
  
"That's very nice, but may I have the cane now?"  
  
Sheepishly, Watari handed over the candy he'd been waving around to make his point.  
  
"Sure kid. Sorry, I just get carried away sometimes."  
  
Clutching at the treat happily, Kizuki waved it off and began gnawing at the end of the stick.  
  
"S'kay, it's fun to listen. I don't get to talk to grown ups often." Silently, she added-// Definitely never talked to a grown up like you.\\ On her shoulder, 003 fluttered her wings and flew off in an agitated flight as the door was yanked open and two breathless males dropped inside.  
  
"Is she-KI-ZU-KIIII!" The young girl was stunned into silence as she was suddenly enveloped into a thick hug, her breath caught at how tight she was being held. Uncomfortably, she tried to push back against the over zealous shinigami to no avail-he wasn't letting go. Her face slowly started to take on an unhealthy blue tinge.  
  
"Tsuzuki!"  
  
Looking clueless, Tsuzuki blinked at the put off expression on his partner's face.  
  
"What? What! Aren't you glad we found her too?"  
  
"Uhm...Tsuzuki...human children aren't supposed to be able to turn blue...unless they're lacking oxygen..." Watari informed him patiently, watching as different shades of blue and violet crossed over the little girl's face.  
  
Immediately releasing Kizuki, Tsuzuki's eyes watered.  
  
"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry Kizuki-chaaaan!"  
  
Trying to hold back an amused smile, Watari patted the human on the back, getting her to gulp in huge amounts of breath while she tried to nod in Tsuzuki's general direction, trying to tell him it was okay.  
  
"She's fine Tsuzuki, but you have to be careful, she's neither a shinigami, or at all that big." The scientist chastised him gently, letting himself drop back into his computer chair. Within a few more seconds, Kizuki's face had returned a bright red color in nature, but she could speak at that point.  
  
"Sorry...were you looking for me?"  
  
"Haai! We thought something bad had happened to you!" Tsuzuki announced to the room, still looking worried.  
  
"Sorry...but nothing bad can happen to me here!" Kizuki announced back after a second, looking remarkably cheerful for someone who'd just had a recent brush with death. Picking up Tomoki, she looked at the dropped candy cane on the floor with sorrow before picking it up and throwing it away with a little shrug. Returning, she found all three grown up's eyes on her. Confused, she stared back.  
  
"What did I do?"  
  
"We were just wondering how you knew." Hisoka explained shortly, studying her before giving a shrug to himself and turning to Watari.  
  
"Have you found anything interesting?"  
  
Puzzled, Kizuki blinked; then her attention was drawn to Tsuzuki who was rummaging inside the trash can for something.  
  
"Something interesting? At this point, I'll settle for finding -anything- at all. There's nothing. It's like they never existed except in the memories of others and legal papers. I think you two are on your own." Watari admitted, throwing a glowering glance at his computer. It wasn't often that he was completely stumped, and as a self respected scientist, that really annoyed him.  
  
Hisoka's look turned grim, and he leaned with his hands against the desk.  
  
"Check the Mizuro house again."  
  
"Okay..." Stroking the keys across his computer board with fast flicks of his fingers, Watari closed up his current file and searched for the one titled 'Mizuro House'. Clicking enter, a new reading began to form.  
  
Satisfied, but unsure of what Bon was trying to find out, Watari leaned back against his chair and stared at the screen until a result finally flashed.  
  
"What the -hell- is -that-?" The blond demanded, staring at the charts. Hate and jealousy feelings were off the scale now, when previously there had been nothing but normal levels of family happiness. His eyes narrowed.  
  
"That sort of thing doesn't happen in just three hours. That's a build up that could take years to form."  
  
"I know." Hisoka murmured, still staring at the screen. "We think the brother might have been hiding it all. But if it wasn't his doing, then it was certainty someone, that -can't- happen by itself, can it?"  
  
"No, feelings are naturally inclined to make themselves known, it's only by a being's self restraint that they don't scatter everywhere. Besides, if I couldn't pick up even a trace of all this before, and now it's like a bomb of negative things just waiting to go off, -someone- had a hand in it. Most likely whoever did it wanted us-or some one else-to believe that they were a happy, normal family."  
  
"Do you think it was him?" The green-eyed teen questioned, straightening up and crossing his arms. //It's not like there's a lot of people that it can be...\\  
  
"I wouldn't write it off." Watari admitted, fingers playing gingerly across the keyboard.  
  
"By the way, what are you going to do with the kid?"  
  
"We've decided to keep her here. Since we don't know exactly where the threat is coming from in her world, it's too dangerous to leave her there." Avoiding inquisitive golden eyes, Hisoka cleared his throat.  
  
"Since we'll be gone investigating, and Tatsumi can't split his attention between his work and taking care of a child...we've decided you should take care of Kizuki."  
  
Watari gawked.  
  
"You're kidding, right?"  
  
Unsure, Hisoka shook his head, then only had a split second to move out the way to avoid being glomped by an overly energetic golden haired scientist. Kizuki unfortunately, since she had been busy staring at the furry brown tail growing out of Tsuzuki's behind as he rummaged through the trash, was not so lucky, and for the second time in less than half an hour, found herself in a tight shinigami hug.  
  
"I get to experience the joys of motherhood!" The scientist squealed in delight, lifting Kizuki quite a few feet off the ground. Startled, she clutched at the other's lab coat, eyes wide.  
  
"Eeeeh?"  
  
Poking his head out the trash, Tsuzuki looked triumphant, a candy cane stuck between his teeth.  
  
"Hmnnn?"  
  
Sweatdropping, Hisoka grabbed his partner's shirt and began pulling him out of the room as the voice of Watari rambled on in the background about green dresses and pink ribbons.  
  
"Watari's agreed to take care of Kizuki. Now, come on, we have work to do tomorrow and research to do now."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
The time it took to travel to the living Earth was nonexistent. Barely seconds passed when they went through the gates when Tsuzuki Asato and Hisoka Kurosaki found themselves standing on a tall telephone poll in front of Sarasuga High School.  
  
The day was just breaking, showing hints that it would be a beautiful, breath-taking clear sky kind of day with a cheerful breeze. Students in groups of two or more, with an occasional loner made their way into the large courtyard behind the school, either chatting with friends or scrambling to get their work for the day ahead finished. A few of the mass were leaning against the side wall of the school, thin burning cylinders held casually between the fingers of the more experienced smokers, and others held the cigarettes between trembling hands, afraid they would be caught.  
  
Tsuzuki sighed softly. Sogetsu wasn't there. Not that it was likely that he would, but it would have been nice if he had been. Less work for them.  
  
Stretching his arms, the older shinigami curled them behind his head and watched the colorful array of teens with a curious look.  
  
"So where do we start?"  
  
"He's very popular, right? Let's just pick some classmates of his and the teachers. Then we can find the people he was with the most." Hisoka said, though his eyes held a far away, almost wistful look in them as he stared down at the school.  
  
"Is something wrong...?" Tsuzuki inquired gently, trying not to scare his skittish and ubberly private partner off.  
  
Snapping back to the present, the young shinigami shook his head in a negative motion and snapped a quick "Nothing!" before jumping down to the ground. Sighing in exasperation, Tsuzuki followed.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
First off was Sogetsu's beginning period, math. The teacher was a stately woman with a pair of askew glasses that clashed with her personality. She was suspicious of the appearance of Hisoka and Tsuzuki, even demanded to know why Hisoka was not in school. With more than a little difficulty, Tsuzuki explained that they were investigating the mysterious disappearances of Sogetsu Mizuro and his little sister, Kizuki. At the mention of those names, the woman's black eyes softened, and the two had no more troubles with questioning anyone. In fact, everyone was more than willing to talk to them once they found out Sogetsu was missing. Apparently, Sogetsu was more than popular in his school, he was -loved-.  
  
Particularly by the girls. They all continued to gushingly describe him as "Handsome, a little on the quiet side, but very kind and gentle.". The first years thought of him as an idol and his own class was very fond of him. He was never afraid to lend a hand where it was needed, or to smile to make someone else feel better. His grades were perfect, his attendance record was almost impeccable, save for the days when his parents died, and to top it all off, he was the school's best soccer player. Nobody ever even uttered one bad word about him, even those that apparently didn't like him that much.  
  
It was downright puzzling for Tsuzuki. How in the world an apparently so well mannered kid could kill his parents and erase all traces of their existence?  
  
He pondered upon that as he waited outside of the school counselor's office for Hisoka to come out. He leaned against the wall with a preoccupied look on his face, weighing the possibility that it wasn't Sogetsu after all. He frowned. It wasn't -impossible-, but then again, the whole situation was bizarre. He sighed. They'd interviewed at least two dozen people, and the day was being drawn well into afternoon. This was their last stop. They were trying to get the home address of one Hikaru Shinji, age sixteen, second year of high school.(1) His name had been repeated over and over when others had been questioned as to who Sogetsu hung out with the most. But he hadn't been in school for three days, and nobody knew where he lived or what was wrong with him.  
  
Running a careless hand through chocolate brown locks, Tsuzuki hoped that being a close friend kept him safe out of Sogetsu's reaches-that is, if it was Sogetsu behind it all. A metallic click alerted him that the door next to him was opening before a soft screeching sound filled the air as the door was pulled inwardly.  
  
"Thank you, you've been of great assistance." Hisoka bowed to the woman and closed the door behind him, a paper with scrawled words clutched in his hands.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki was amazed. Just barely explaining that they were trying to find Sogetsu Mizuro and it was like an instant personality shift into a glowing woman. Yuki Shinji had been less than friendly when opening the door of her apartment to find two strange men on her welcome mat, but now she was as overly sweet and fluttering around, asking a question then asking another before they could answer.  
  
They were in one of downtown Tokyo's many apartment buildings, and trying to see Hikaru Shinji so that they could question him as to where Sogetsu could possibly be. However, the way his mother was carrying on, that could possibly take hours before they could. Sighing, Tsuzuki tried again to interrupt the barrel of words that were thrown at them as they stood, a bit awkwardly in the clean living room. No dice. She wasn't even paying that much attention to them, only raving about how well-mannered and intelligent Sogetsu was, especially when compared to her own son. Hearing that, Tsuzuki couldn't help but feel sorry, and more than a little curious about Hikaru.  
  
His attention was caught by the sound of a faint cough, and he stared down a hallway. There were only three doors. One of them had to lead to Hikaru's room. Shooting Hisoka a regretful glance, he took the opportunity to slip away when Mrs.Shinji's back was turned and checked the first door on the left. Only a bathroom. The sound of another cough lead him towards the door at the end. The sound of the woman and Hisoka's voices melted away into a muted background and Tsuzuki knocked lightly on the white door. There was a brief pause before a thin, slightly husky voice welcomed him in.  
  
Stepping into the room, Tsuzuki knew right off that this was without question Hikaru Shinji's room. On the giant bookshelf filled with a few books, were dozens of picture frames. On the same shelf sat a large, professional looking camera, and Tsuzuki re-called hearing someone mention that Hikaru was the photographer for the school newspaper. But that wasn't how he knew. The first thing that had gotten his attention had been the lovingly smiling face of Sogetsu as he leaned over a pale haired boy's shoulder, looking mischievous. In fact, many of the pictures in the room were of Sogetsu, a large quantity of them with the same boy.  
  
Then Tsuzuki glanced at the bed for the first time, and met curious golden eyes.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Kizuki was starting to wonder if perhaps she would be better off with the scary man with the glasses. Watari was all right she supposed, but if he really thought she was going to stick herself in a pink dress with all those ribbons, hoops, hearts and glitter, he had another thing coming. She sighed. But he -did- seem to have fun planning out the dresses on a slightly crumpled notepad he'd found on the floor. Even if his drawing reminded her of her kindergarten sketches.  
  
Bored, she looked around the lab again. Nothing was different. The excitement had worn off hours ago, and she was getting tired and hungry. Watari almost seemed like he didn't need to eat, so she didn't want to bother him. Her stomach growled in protest. It wanted food. And soon. Making a face, Kizuki looked resigned to starving when 003 fluttered across her face and out the door.  
  
Startled, Kizuki followed.  
  
After following the animal for a few seconds at a running pace, Kizuki found herself in a new room with a long table, and best of all-there was -food- on the table. Squealing happily, Kizuki immediately picked a roll of sushi and brought it to her lips, and bit into it. It was a little stale, but it was food and she was eight so it was all nifty in her eyes.  
  
Content, she hummed and finished the morsel, wiping her hand on her arm to avoid getting Hisoka's white shirt-that he'd been kind enough to let her borrow since she had nothing else to wear-dirty. The shirt was still too big for her, but she liked it. It was very loose and comfortable and smelled curiously enough of the violet eyed man.  
  
Then she noticed she wasn't alone.  
  
Blue eyes peered at her over glasses with a spark of hidden amusement. The secretary was for once taking a brief break and had decided to stop by the lunch room. There was no point in having a lunch room if it was never used.  
  
"Go ahead. It's there to be eaten." Tatsumi informed the child casually, then his attention was piqued by the energetic owl flying around the room in circles. One eyebrow arched up. Kizuki and 003 were there. So, taking that into consideration, that meant...  
  
The door opened.  
  
Tatsumi held back a groan at the glimpse of gleaming golden hair. Just the person he'd been -trying- to avoid.  
  
"Neeeee, Kizuki-chan! You really shouldn't wander off like that." Watari complained, then forgot about it as he spied Tatsumi sitting at the end of the table. Grinning almost from ear to ear, he bounced down to the secretary and promptly dropped his arms around the wide shoulders.  
  
"Wai! Tatsumi actually took a break to eat! A-ma-zing!"  
  
Curious, Kizuki looked from the cheerful blonde to the blue eyed man whose cheeks were beginning to dye red and she blinked, then shrugged and fed 003 a bit of peach.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Tatsumi asked coldly, stiff in the loose embrace. It wasn't like Watari was hugging him too tightly, it actually felt quite nice, and the scientist smelled faintly of something pleasant that Tatsumi couldn't quite put a finger on. //Nevermind that, he has to respect my personal space.\\ The secretary told himself then pushed the beaming blond with a hard shove.  
  
Caught off guard, Watari found himself in an awkward position trying to catch his balance which failed miserably since he ended up falling down on the floor and hitting his head against the wall to make things better.  
  
He stayed still for a second, eyes tightly shut at the brief rush of pain that quickly disappeared completely, then opened one eye to look up unhappily at the other shinigami.  
  
"Mou, Tatsumi, do you really hate my touch that much?" Watari complained lightly; there was a trace of hurt in the aureate gaze that remained even after the scientist pulled himself to his feet and assured a wide eyed Kizuki that he was fine before quickly disappearing; the excuse being something silly that didn't make sense.  
  
Unsure, Kizuki glanced again from the shut door, to Tatsumi before she decided it was worth the risk.  
  
"Mommy used to say that people that care for you are hard to find, so you have to treasure them, or before you know it, they'll be gone beyond your reach." She told him solemnly, eyes sad.  
  
The man looked lost, and she wasn't completely sure that he'd even heard her words when the azure eyes focused on her, looking tired.  
  
"Your mother was a very wise woman Mizuro-san."(2)  
  
*~*~*~  
  
1.In Japan, high school goes from 10th grade to 12th. Junior High is 7-9, etc.  
  
2.Yes, I know that adding the Japanese endings annoy some people, and I don't keep it up all through the fic, but sometimes it just fits better. Tatsumi wouldn't really call Kizuki by her first name, and Mizuro just doesn't really sound right somehow.  
  
Wow. Uhm. This fic will definitely be longer than 10,000 words. o_O Err. Yea. In any case, in the next chapter, Tsuzuki finds out more about Sogetsu from Hikaru, a library card is a clue that begins to unravel the mystery of where the souls have gone and things between Tatsumi and Watari go from bad, to worse. 


	3. Meeting Hikaru

Title: Danger of Caring  
  
Author: Andro  
  
Status: Incomplete  
  
Couples: TatsumixWatari, Tsuzuki+Hisoka, OC+OC (yaoi...)  
  
Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here.  
  
Author Notes: ^^ Thank you to all who reviewed, I appreciate it, this being (basically) my third fic that I've writen. ^^; Esp. thanks for Julie. ^.~  
  
Second: Does anyone know how to italize and stuff in Ff.net format? ;_;  
  
Third: Warning: Completely un-beta'ed. _ My two beta readers aren't available anymore..and..yea, right. ^^; So sorry.  
  
"Talking"  
  
//Thoughts.\\  
  
- Enphasis -  
  
Flashbacks  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Tsuzuki tilted his head to the side and studied the young man in bed curiosly. Like many youths in Japan, he'd bleached his hair, but to the point that it was a silvery white color that briefly reminded Tsuzuki uncomfortably of Muraki. However, that was where the recemblance ended, for Hikaru had soft, kind golden eyes and his skin was tanned. He wore a simple, loose white shirt, and the rest of him was covered by a blue comforter.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Tsuzuki Asato."  
  
"..." Puzzled, Hikaru tilted his head to the side as well, mirroring Tsuzuki's actions and tried to smile cheerfully. "Pleased to meet you Tsuzuki, I'm Shinji Hikaru." Patiently, he waited for Tsuzuki to explain his presence in his room.  
  
"I...Sogetsu Mizuro went missing yesturday afternoon along with his littler sister, Kazuki. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions..." The shinigami tried, awkwardly to explain the circumstances. Something about trying to explain the situation without really telling the truth to Hikaru didn't really feel right.  
  
Worry flashed across the golden eyes, and Hikaru sat up straighter, then was forced to curl over as coughs racked his thin form. Concerned, Tsuzuki moved forward, but the teen stopped him, raising a hand. The dreadful hacking noise ceased, much to Tsuzuki's relief and a watery gaze was raised up to the Shinigami again. Trying to help, the man grabbed a glass of water off the stand and offered it to the young teen who took it with a grateful look and swallowed half the contents with one gulp to soothe his raw throat. After taking a deep breath, Hikaru set the glass down and brushed the tears away from his eyes. His voice had lowered into an even huskier tone.  
  
"I'm sorry, I get sick very easily and I'm particularly bad this time."  
  
Smiling reassuringly, Tsuzuki waved it off. "It's allright, it's not like it can be helped right?"  
  
Hikaru nodded slightly, and gestured for Tsuzuki to sit on the corner of the bed, as the room was lacking a place to sit. Gingerly, Tsuzuki sat and cleared his throat. "I guess that's why you missed school then.:" Another nod, and Hikaru looked at Tsuzuki silently for a long time. "...Sogetsu...?" "Like I said, he's missing. May I ask you some questions? It could be very helpful in finding him." An odd expression crossed Hikaru's face, yet he nodded, white hair falling across his eyes. Tsuzuki had the faint impression that perhaps Hikaru Shinji would not live for much longer, but the room itself didn't have the aura of death, so he pushed the concern to the back of his mind to be studied later. "How did you meet Sogetsu?" "I was lost...on my first day of school. I bumped into Sogetsu and managed to completely destroy the science project he'd been carrying. He-" Hikaru took a deep breath, massaging his throat. "He wasn't angry about it at all. He took one look at me and asked me if I wanted him to show me around."  
  
Tsuzuki blinked. //Really doesn't sound like Sogetsu is the kind of person that would kill his parents...\\ He frowned.  
  
"What is the place that you would say Sogetsu goes to the most?"  
  
The responce was immediate.  
  
"The library."  
  
A blink.  
  
"Well, I suppoce that makes sense, he is a top student..." Tsuzuki received a faint, weary smile from Hikaru for that. "No, he doesn't study. At least not anything that I've seen at school. He's really interested in the paranormal, and will always be searching for odd looking, old books that nobody even remembers anymore. He'll spend days and days pouring over one book and even forget to eat a lot of the time. I don't know what he finds so fascinating, he's never told me..." Hikaru's voice trailed off into a thin whisper, his voice giving out.  
  
Tsuzuki nodded, and stood up.  
  
"Thank you Hikaru, you've been very helpful. We'll be sure to notify you when anything new pops up." Tsuzuki's violet eyes were alight with energy. Finally, a clue. Something that didn't fit the pattern of a perfect teenage boy. He turned and hurried out of the room, not catching Hikaru's last words.  
  
"Please be careful..."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Watari studied the bubbling tubes filled with different colored substances, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. Behind him, a fire from a Bunsen burner rose up high and flickered against a bowl filled with a nasty looking black goop that let out a loud POP sound once in a while. 003 was looking at it a little nervously.  
  
"Idiot..." The whisper was so soft, that even Watari didn't hear it. He actually wasn't aware that he'd talked out loud, just as he wasn't really sure who he was calling an idiot. It wasn't normal for the cheerful scientist to be depressed, but that's what Watari was at that moment as he sat heavily down on his chair and sighed. With a practiced motion he slipped his glasses off and rubbed the glass against a clean part of his labcoat. He wondered idly where Kazuki had gone off to again. She seemed to be easily bored with things. It'd been a few hours since he'd seen the little girl, but considering where they were, she couldn't be getting herself into that much trouble.  
  
Another loud pop.  
  
Anxious, 003 ruffled her feathers, making her tiny body twice as big and let out a high pitched hoot. Nothing. Watari didn't even flicker an eyelash. Annoyed, she tried tugging at her human's hair, only mildly surprised when her pulling produced a flowing wave of golden hair as she'd pulled off his ribbon. Mentally, she shrugged. Attention was attention. Taking off into flight, she flew over to the bubbling concoction and dropped it inside. Immediatly it sank like lead into the hot goey substance and an unpleasant smell was released. 003 looked at Watari, and almost fell into the batch herself.  
  
Nothing. The man hadn't even had the decency to twitch.  
  
If she had been a dog she would have bit him, as it was, she was tempted to bite him anyway.  
  
Quick footsteps signalled the arrival of someone brief seconds before the door to the lab was pushed open, and in the doorway stood Tatsumi stiffly, pushing falling glasses back into place. "I'm sorry to inform you that due to several accidents within the past year and reconstruction fees, we will have to cut the lab's spending money by half. Have a good day." The door shut again rapidly.  
  
Watari stared at the closed doorway with a blank look for a few seconds, no actual expression crossing his face before he finally blinked. "...The hell?" The substance that had been cooking for several hours already gave a disgusting burping sound before flying in thick black semi solid strips all over Watari's coat, staining it beyond repair and landing on his hair. He blinked again.  
  
Watari twitched.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Long after the mysterious man had left, Hikaru found himself studying their conversation with a strange fascination. He couldn't keep his mind off the violet eyes. They seemed so sad.  
  
Annoyed with himself, the teen slumped against his pillows and stared at his ceiling. Above was a poster of Ichiwa Kurai, one of his favorite soccer players, so he focused on that.  
  
//Not bad...a little blurry around the edges...the humidity probably caused that effect...\\ Hikaru commented absently, trying to find faults with the photograph. Nothing else to mind.  
  
Put off, he frowned, and rubbed his eyes. //I'm tired again. This sucks. I've slept for half a day, and I still want to go back to sleep...\\ Restlessly, he turned his head to the side and found his gaze caught by a picture he'd taken during the summer break. Hikaru managed to smile. For once, Sogetsu looked something beyond perfectly calm. He was staring confusedly at the lobster on his plate, apparently trying to figure out how to start eating.  
  
Golden eyes slid shut, recalling that day.  
  
For a summer day, the sky had been cloudy and trecherous. To do anything outside was foolish, so Hikaru had suggested that they go out to a restaurant. Sogetsu had never had steamed lobster, to which Hikaru had decided it was something that needed to be fixed promtly. The restaurant was a small one near the bay, and the food wasn't too expensive, so Hikaru had dragged the older teen there to eat. Sogetsu had looked so cute when presented with his plate that Hikaru hadn't been able to resist taking a picture with his ever present camera. "I had fun that day." A soft voice interrupted, sounding faintly wistful.  
  
Startled, Hikaru twisted around, and found himself staring into solemn silver eyes that he knew well.  
  
"S-Sogetsu?"  
  
The senior smiled, though it looked somewhat fake, and faded as fast as it had appeared.  
  
"Hello Hikaru."  
  
Another person might have demanded to know what was going on, or wonder where they were, but Hikaru only found himself clinging to his best friend, afraid he'd dissapear without a warning again.  
  
"Where were you? They told me you vanished!"  
  
Regretfully, Sogetsu pushed the pale teen away by the shoulders, keeping him a small distance away.  
  
"They?" His frown became apparent.  
  
"Who are 'they'?"  
  
"They-him-a guy came by asking questions." Fruitlessly, Hikaru tried to find answers to unspoken questions in Sogetsu's face, but he gave nothing away past a mild level of distaste.  
  
"Don't talk to him again."  
  
Knowing better than to ask why, Hikaru simply shook his head.  
  
"When are you coming back?"  
  
A brief splash of surprise.  
  
"You know this isn't real?"  
  
"The real Sogetsu doesn't feel like this." The photographer told the illusion truthfully. "Besides, I'm so sick right now that I can't even stand. So I must be dreaming....or something."  
  
Again, a thin, weary smile crossed Sogetsu's face as he reached out and touched Hikaru's cheek with a brief hand.  
  
"I'll be back soon. I just need to find someone."  
  
Hikaru frowned.  
  
"Kizuki?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He gave him a curious look.  
  
"Alright. Please hurry, and good luck."  
  
"Who are you talking to?" Mrs.Shinji questioned her son with a disturbed frown as she came in carrying the afternoon tea. She watched as Hikaru jerked back from staring with focused concentration at air and stared at her dazedly for a few seconds, then his pupils seemed to go back to normal and he glanced around his room, as if seeing it for the first time.  
  
"I...no one." He murmured softly, then leaned back against his bed, looking more weary and tired than she'd seen him in years. Pursing her lips together, Hikaru's mother set down the tray next to his table and began pouring the tea silently.  
  
*~*~*~  
  
"How did that happen?" Kizuki squeaked, staring at the evil looking black blob that was stuck fast to Watari's golden locks. He was rummaging impatiently through his collection of medical instruments, searching for something. Agitated. 003 fluttered down on the girl's shoulder and hooted a warning into her ear. The message was clear, "Don't bother him, he's in a *really* bad mood." Kizuki decided to take the little bird's advice and edged closer to the door-just in case of course.  
  
She'd only been gone for a couple hours, having discovered that collecting cherry petals and making a bed with them was really quite worth it. Loose petals stuck to her from everywhere, some pressed into her clothes, some caught in her hair, but she didn't notice them, only watched the scientist as he finally gave a triumphant shout and pulled something from the box. Metal gleamed wickedly in the air and Kizuki whimpered at the sight of a deadly sharp looking knife.  
  
"A...annou...Watari!"  
  
"Hmn, just hold on a sec."  
  
With not just a little measure of worry, the dark haired mortal watched as metal slid through aureate strands easily, like cutting through soft butter. Golden locks shimmered as they fell down to the floor, one after another, forming a pile. She only watched, appalled as Watari's beautiful mane of long hair was shortened until it only brushed against his chin. Finally, he stopped when there were no more goop infected pieces and set down the surgical knife, running his hand distractedly through the short locks. It felt weird to him, after some thirty something years of having it the same length. Not bad, just weird. Finally, he looked at Kizuki, and she looked back at him with a trembling lower lip.  
  
"Why did you do that?! That'll take years to grow back!" She cried, looking at all the cut hair with a horrified gaze. Instinctually, her hand reached up to touch her own hair, tugging at strands.  
  
"Sorry, sorry." Watari put the instrument down and kicked the clumps to the side, making a note to clean it up at one point or another.  
  
"Don't worry, my hair grows back faster. Like much faster. In two days, I'll have it back to normal." He told her easily, patting the top of her head reassuringly. She looked at him, sniffling.  
  
"You promise?"  
  
"I don't need to, you'll see if for yourself." Watari announced cheerfully. //It's not like I could have avoided it in any case, that stuff wouldn't have let go and it would have eaten the rest of my hair as well eventually.\\ Second note to self: Check black goop for signs of sentient life. Kizuki stared at him doubtfully, before sighing and hugging Tomoki.  
  
"Okay." She agreed. //I'm going to stay here for longer?\\ Kizuki reflected. //Who are these people? I can trust them, but who are they?\\  
  
"Come on." Watari chirped, curling and arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the lab. His experiments were starting to smell bad anyway.  
  
"Eh? Where are we going?" The cerulean eyed girl asked out loud, startled, and a bit suspicious. If the 'come on' was about those dresses she'd been watching him gloat over, she was going to kick him in the groin and run to the other man with the glasses. At least he didn't seem like the type of man that would want to suffocate in a sea of yellow ruffles and bows.  
  
"To get you new clothing!" The blonde scientist announced cheerfully, pulling both of them out into the hall before he realized that he was missing Kizuki.  
  
"Eh...Zuki?"  
  
With a turn, he found her hiding behind a vaguely startled looking Tatsumi, peering from behind one leg.  
  
"No! No dresses!"  
  
"Wha...?" The secretary began to ask, before catching a sigh of Watari and freezing. The other man simply gave him an odd look and turned to Kizuki.  
  
"Aww! But a fluffy little blue dress would look great on you! I even got a Western catalogue, see?" Out of nowhere, he pulled the glossy magazine, only resulting in Kizuki cringing and grabbing on to Tatsumi's leg pants. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.  
  
Looking near fake tears, Watari began to sniffle, as absurd as it was considering he was a grown man on his knees, on the floor, begging a little girl to let him try dresses on her. He quickly enough stopped than when a long, thin hand touched the crown of his head, sinking through the golden mess. Stunned yellow eyes were raised to meet dark blue.  
  
"Why did you cut it?" Tatsumi forced out in a choking voice. After a long time of wishing that he could touch Watari's long mane of wavy hair, he was finally feeling how soft and silky it was, but it was different. He'd imagined being able to run his hands from the roots to the very tips of the end, a long luxurious path that was now cut disappointingly short.  
  
"I....I..." Watari stumbled over his words, unable to look away from Tatsumi and gather his thoughts.  
  
"I had to, I had an accident..."  
  
A tiny voice piped up from behind them, trying to be optimistic.  
  
"It'll grow back soon!" Kizuki chirped, still grabbing a hold of Tatsumi's leg. That seemed to bring the secretary out of his daze, and he blinked, yanking his hand away from Watari as it was burned. He pressed the palm of the other against his forehead and rubbed the tense point there.  
  
"Yes, of course it will. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for meeting." He lied curtly, moving out of Kizuki's hold and striding down the hall to disappear past a corner.  
  
With a soft, defeated groan, Watari slumped on the floor, staring at the ceiling moodily. The floor was cold too. //It figures. He really doesn't like touching me.\\  
  
A head full of black hair came into his vision, and Zuki peered down at him, hesitantly.  
  
"...We can go try on those dresses now..."  
  
*~*~*~  
  
About the hair thing-Yea, I know they're shinigami and all, but I just figure that since it's just hair, no blood was spilled or anything, the healing/repairing proccess takes it's time. 


	4. Death

Name: Danger of Caring  
Author: Andro  
Pairings: Tatsumi+Watari, Tsuzuki+Hisoka, ect.  
Warnings: Shounen-Ai, a few OCs, mild violence/horror. The whole enchilada. p=  
Disclaimer: Not mine. Simple, no?  
Author Notes: *covers her face* I can't believe it's been so long since I updated... Argh. .-.; ANYWAY. Much love towards Julie and Beth and the rest for having the patience to deal with me. [And this fic.]   
My darling website is Cerulean.Illuminati-X.net All my YnM fics are there, including one ficclet that won't be posted here, and... well, other fanfics, from Harry Potter, to Angel Sanctuary to Kingdom Hearts. Plus two 'rant' journals pretty much by yours truly, an archive of icons and... well. just a bunch of stuff. @_@;   
  
Onwards!   
  
*~*~*~   
  
"What did you think of him?"  
Tsuzuki glanced up, having lost himself in thought while staring at the dull cement.  
"Who?"  
Green eyes gave him a vaguely irritated glance, before sliding away to stare at the street across.  
"Hikaru."  
"Oh," A tiny, sheepish smile turned up the corners of the older man's lips, and he leaned back with a long sigh, crossing his arms.  
"Well...." The words trailed off into a hesitant pause as the shinigami tried to carefully construct a valid point of view on the teenager he'd met earlier. It was too bad that Hisoka hadn't gotten to meet him, it would have probably been quite helpful if they could have gotten a psychic reading. Oh, well.. no matter.. he'd given them their first clue.  
"I think he's very sick. I don't think he'll die soon though, he just has a very weak constitution. If you're thinking that he *might* have a hand in these murders, I don't think so. Too weak." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, nearly hitting an old man walking down the sidewalk.  
"Sorry."  
Hisoka made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a muffled snort, and pushed strands of his hair back with an impatient flick of his fingers.  
"I wasn't really considering that option, although it bears thought. You can never be too sure." He added grimly, thoughts turning dark and treacherous as they wandered over past cases... then he shook his head quickly and shifted forward as the red light shinned and the cars stopped obediently.  
"What else? Nothing?"  
Tsuzuki followed along, crossing the street with his hands tucked inside his pockets.  
"I don't know... I didn't talk to him much, you know. He seems like a normal person. There was nothing really strange or spectacular about him at all. How about his mother?"  
They reached the other corner, and paused to gaze up at the high building in front of them. Tokyo's east library wasn't the largest, or the prettiest one in the city, but it was big enough to make people stop and look occasionally.  
"She's ashamed of Hikaru." Hisoka announced coolly, shaking off the feeling of awe and walking through the doors. He continued on before Tsuzuki could get a word in.  
"From what I talked with her, it seems that Hikaru tends to get sick a lot and miss school, and according to her, photography isn't a proper hobby. I didn't really sense anything too horrible from her, just... that." He seemed vaguely uncomfortable before brushing the feeling away. The situation with the human boy reminded him a little too much of his own life when alive.  
"I see...." Tactfully, Tsuzuki changed the subject.  
"Okay, we're here at the East Library. Since this is the closest library to Sogetsu's home, we can only assume that this was the one he visited the most... if not, we'll have to visit the other ones too. Blegh. More work." Tsuzuki added with an emphasis, and heard a quietly murmured 'Idiot' from his companion before Hisoka moved on towards the help desk. Tsuzuki only grinned at his back and followed with an easy gait.  
It was fortunate that a volunteer helper was manning the said station, she was practically squeaking at the sight of two good looking guys. At the mention of Sogetsu's name, she revealed that she too, knew him.  
// It looks like *everyone* knows him, \\ Tsuzuki thought with some dry amusement, planting his hands over the counter and leaning on them.  
"Really? Let me guess, you go to the same high school?"  
The girl nodded quickly, short black hair moving with her actions.  
"Yes! I have one class with him.... and, well. who doesn't know him?" She added with a friendly smile.  
"It seems that he's very popular..." Tsuzuki glanced at the pristine name tag clipped on to her gray blouse.  
"Sayeka?"  
"Uh-huh. He's just so nice, everyone loves him." Sayeka answered with another energetic nod.  
"So you want me to pull up Sogetsu's reading records? Do you want me to print out a copy of them too?" She glanced at Hisoka, who had remained silent all the time and offered him a smile. It faded a bit when he only looked back at her with some measure of awkwardness.  
Tsuzuki distracted her with another of his own brilliant smiles.  
"If you could, it would be most helpful."  
"Sure! Okay, give me a minute... or... two... or three.." Sayeka disappeared briefly, kneeling down to look at something, then stood up and flicked her fingers rapidly over the keys of her keyboard.  
What she was doing, Tsuzuki honestly had no idea. He'd never been too fond of computers... in fact, they tended to self self-destruct around him, much to Tatsumi's chagrin. Ah, well, it wasn't his fault. Computers didn't even exist when he'd been alive.  
Sayeka once more knelt down, and then disappeared into a door off to the side, and Tsuzuki took the opportunity to speak with his partner again.  
"What if it's not Sogetsu?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean... what if it's not?" Tsuzuki shrugged.  
"There's always a possibility, right?"  
Hisoka nodded faintly.  
"Yes... although..." He faded out momentarily.  
"Although, the hate in the house must have been building up for quite some time... years. It doesn't help that he's disappeared."  
"Could a ghost have done it?"  
"What?"  
Tsuzuki looked at him somberly.  
"A ghost. It's possible, right?"  
"Well..." Hisoka drawled slowly.  
"I suppose so. It might have lived in the house without anyone knowing... it could be the ghost of Sogetsu's mother, even, but what about the fact that the other ghosts have vanished? Not just that, but any and all trace of them ever existing spiritually is gone too. It's almost as if someone took a vacuums and sucked it all up."  
Tsuzuki had to crack a smile at that image, and tapped his fingers impatiently against his forearm, trying to think.  
"No, wait, wasn't it mentioned in the meeting that the ghost of his mother had moved on? It can't be that then."  
Hisoka shrugged.  
"It all points to Sogetsu... the question is, what are we going to do when we find him?"  
"We'll figure out something." Tsuzuki murmured firmly, and looked up with a cheerful grin on his face as Sayeka made the stage once more, a long piece of paper in her hand. She looked a little harried, but triumphant.  
"That took a while, I'm very sorry. I had to look through the other library's files too. It seems that he's been *everywhere*. No wonder he's so smart." She complained, handing them the slip. It was over a foot long, and from one glance, Tsuzuki measured that at least a hundred books had been checked out. Date out, date in, titles, author names and late penalties were included. Perfect.  
He glanced up, and smiled at the teenage girl again.  
"Thank you Sayeka, you've been most helpful."  
She nodded, and smiled softly.  
"Just find sempai[1], okay?"  
  
*~*~*~   
  
Hitomi Fukisaki had been having the oddest feeling in the back of her neck ever since she'd risen up earlier in the day.  
She shrugged it off as a subconscious worry to the fact that she was getting married in a little over a month, and smiled approvingly at the sales girl as she pointed out a blue china pattern.  
"Thank you, that's perfect. You have everything written down?"  
"Yes, one hundred of these plates, a hundred fifty glasses, and corresponding silverware, oui?" She rattled off professionally, not even needed to look at the pad of paper that she held between her hands.  
She was practically glowing, thinking of the sale she was making. The commission that she was going to make was going to make her a very wealthy woman... for a while anyway, until she spent it all on E.  
"That's right. I'm sure you have it all under control." Hitomi tried to smile back, but it felt grotesque on her face.  
"I'll call tomorrow to see how you're doing, have a nice day." Waving at the attractive blonde French girl, Hitomi escaped from the pretty, high class store and walked out into the throng of mall goers.  
The sun shinned down through the giant skylights on the high ceilings, and people chattered comfortable with each other, walking in pairs and trios. Brightly gaudy displays offered the best goods the stores had to offer, and mannequins with blank eyes stared back at her when she looked at them.  
The shopping bags she already carried felt heavy in her grasp, and she hurried on through the crowds, eager to get to her car and drive back to her place.  
Outside, it was a little cloudy, faintly warning of possible rain coming later that tonight if they continued to gather. It would do the plants good if it rained, Hitomi thought, and hurried over the hot pavement. People still walked around her, some heading into the building, some walking out to their cars like she was. None of them paid her any mind, but she couldn't get the feeling that someone was paying intense attention to her every move.  
It was not a comforting sensation.  
Dropping off her bags in the trunk of her car, the young woman shut it with more force than necessary, earning her a few startled stares from others around her. She blushed, but paid them no mind, reaching inside her left pockets for keys. To busy herself from dark, needless thoughts, she counted off the things she needed to do before next Thursday.  
// Check up on Sogetsu and Kizuki, pick up Ayeka from her computer seminar...\\ Hitomi slid into her car and shut the door, turning on the engine. // Make sure Seishirou got the shots from the vet, call the store to see how they're doing...\\ The car pulled out of the parking lot, and her fingers thrummed nervously against the covered steering wheel, making dull thumping sounds.  
// Watch that special on Egypt tomorrow, call Setsuna to ask about what bridesmaid color we should use... \\ The car smoothly slid into the traffic lane, engine purring softly. Eventually, the young Japanese woman relaxed, her shoulders pulled down from their high, tense positions. Probably just some creep had been staring at her at the mall.  
Brushing off the feeling with a vague shake of her head, Hitomi reached for the collection of CD cases that she had piled up on the passenger seat. With a quick, ingenious flick of her fingers, she managed to open and draw out the gleaming compact disk.  
Keeping her eyes on the road ahead, Hitomi waited until a red light flashed on to stop the car, and then inserted the CD, pressing a few buttons until the upbeat rhythm of Nana Katase's "Fantasy" began to drift from the speakers.  
// I love this song. \\ She thought contentedly, nodding her head, a small smile on her face.  
Inside her left pocket, her cell phone came to life with a snap, vibrating madly against her hip.  
"Wonder who it is..." Tugging the small apparatus free, Hitomi glanced at the liquid screen, brown eyes softening at the name displayed. She pressed the 'Receive' button and pressed the bright green cell phone to her ear.  
"Kazuhiro?"  
"Hey." Her fiancé's rich, soft voice filled the line, and her smile grew.  
"What's up?"  
"Just checking to see if you were all right."  
"Of course. Why shouldn't I be?"  
A brief silence.  
"No reason."  
Another silence.  
"I miss you."  
Hitomi quirked up an eyebrow. Well. That was unusual.  
"I miss you too. How about I pick you up for dinner and we stuff ourselves silly?"  
"Only if we don't visit that cursed American place again."  
Hitomi nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her.  
"Agreed."  
The red light turned to green, and Hitomi reacted, pressing down on the pedal, gliding gracefully out into the street.  
"I love you." Kazuhiro said.  
The violent sound of metal screeching filled his ears.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Sulking wasn't at all like Yutaka Watari.  
So, he had decided that he didn't want to, and was instead looking through files of old cases for any clues for the Mizuro case file. He was surprised at how far back the records went... until he reminded himself that death had always existed, they weren't just some normal business company.  
So far, even though he had gone back several decades, he'd found absolutely nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.  
But, it was better than worrying about whether Tatsumi hated him or not.  
Or, well, hated was a rather strong word, maybe just highly disliked.  
Holding back a yawn, the golden eyed scientist leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and rubbing at taut neck muscles. He really had to set up some sort of search engine for the files sooner or later, it would save upon hours and hours of research.  
//Then again, maybe I could just memorize all the thousands of files word per word and be done with it.\\ He thought wryly, and glanced around with an absent gesture, noticing that yet again, Kizuki was missing. Obviously, he wasn't very good company. Or, then again, she just might have gotten hungry, he realized upon glancing at the clock.  
If he became any more absorbed in his work, he was going to turn out like Tatsumi.  
  
A slight smile touched his lips, and Watari prepared to go in a hunt for his protégé and a good sized late lunch when his computer beeped alarmingly.  
Frowning, the scientist brought up the file he'd been sent, and read the title.  
"From Yue Chihiro, information on the death of Hitomi Fukisaki, age twenty three, died... today? Why does that name sound familiar? And why would Yue send me this...?" He wondered out loud to the empty room, double clicking the link. Yue Chihiro was a colleague that he met briefly when cross examining cases. Yue was one of the shinigami that kept track of who died and reported whether the soul arrived or not.  
"Perhaps it's another case." Watari murmured quietly under his breath, watching the screen impatiently as the document took its sweet time in bring up the contents.  
He skimmed through the report, but froze midway through and forced himself to start reading from the beginning.  
  
*~*~*~   
  
"You know, I'm starting to wonder what sort of people decide what books go into a library and so on." Tsuzuki commented to his partner, watching Hisoka lift himself on the tips of his toes to reach a particularly high book. Once he saw that Hisoka had grabbed it and was fine, he turned his attention back to his own volume, fingers tracing the worn covers.  
They hadn't exactly found copies of the Necromicon in Sogetsu's reading materials, but the teenager sure as hell hadn't been interested in any Pokemon comic books either.  
"They don't really believe all this, so they don't care." Hisoka answered finally, setting down a thick stack of books and picking up the list the girl from earlier had given them. He went through the books again. Some were standard things, from a self help book on cooking, to a book on advanced Trigonometry. Although, at least half of them were specifically oriented towards different religions, books written by critics condemning what they called 'witchcraft', books of wicca.... they practically had the whole section on the occult sprawled over their table. And that was just what Sogetsu had rented out in that particular library, and had bothered to return  
. Tsuzuki tapped his fingers against the hard wooden surface, short nails clicking.  
"Yeah. In any case... Sogetsu obviously isn't as perfect as he's lead other people to believe, but... all of this isn't real," He gestured with a broad wave of his hand towards their collection.  
"It might allude to the real way to do these things, but this is like telling someone to bake a cake and tell them that they'll need eggs." His stomach grumbled quietly, and he brightened up.  
"Speaking of cakes! I saw this great little pl-" Tsuzuki began enthusiastically, then stopped as his cell phone gave a shrill ring. He pulled out the noisy phone out of his pocket and silently bowed to the people he'd disturbed before flipping it open and moving out of hearing range.  
"Hello?"  
"It's Watari, I think you better go visit Makino Point, a few blocks away from the Tokyo West Mall."  
Tsuzuki quirked up an eyebrow.  
"Why?"  
"Sogetsu's cousin is dead. Same pattern as Sakura and Katsu it seems, although we haven't checked everything yet."  
"Damn... all right, thanks. Wait-how's Kizuki holding up?"  
A vaguely sheepish silence filled the line.  
"I'm... thinking good. She tends to wander off and amuses herself while I'm working."  
Tsuzuki felt mildly alarmed.  
"You don't know where she is?"  
"Well... no, but I'm sure she's fine. I think she knows this place better than I do. Besides, what could happen to her here?"  
  
*~*~*~  
  
Hikaru sat up in bed, and shifted until his back was comfortably pressed against the raised pillows. His gaze was fixed on the view his window offered him, as the setting sun shone over the city. It was too sad that there were very few trees in Tokyo, but the buildings had a sort of beauty to them as well. It just wasn't the same though.  
  
The teenager sneezed, and rubbed his nose ruefully. He felt a lot better, but was still obviously sick.  
Tossing off his bed covers, he rose to his feet and wandered out into the hall, his stomach announcing quite loudly that it wanted nourishment. He'd probably be able to go back to school by the next day.  
"Mom?" Hikaru glanced down the hallway that led to his mother's room, but heard nothing. // Probably out shopping... she probably left while I was sleeping. \\  
Moving ahead, he walked out into the living room and picked up the remote control, turning on the news. Dropping it back on the low table, Hikaru ventured out into the kitchen, picking up a glass and filling it with water. He would have preferred milk, but that wouldn't have helped his sinus problem at all.   
Shuffling back out into the living room, Hikaru sank into one of the large, Western styled couches with an audibly relieved sigh, the material molding to his shape.  
The commercials on TV were silly at best, and he felt too many brain cells dying by paying too much attention to it, so instead he thought about how much homework he probably had piled up. Then the late afternoon news began showing. After the major headlines, a story about a woman who had suddenly lost control of her car began to air.  
// How sad. \\   
  
*~*~*~   
  
Tatsumi was having a hard time concentrating.  
In five hours, he had done about half of the usual work he did on a normal day.  
His head hurt.  
Pulling his glasses from his face, the secretary rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling the aching tension building up. Maybe he needed a vacation.  
"Annou...." A light, hesitant voice reached his ears, and Tatsumi turned to the source, used to it.  
"Yes?" He inquired calmly, eyeing the stuffed bunny the child seemed to be stubborn on dragging around everywhere. Wasn't she too old to be playing with a toy like that?  
// Some sort of reaction to victim stress I suppose...\\  
Kizuki fidgeted, and her dress whispered. Since she'd actually let Watari stuff her into one of the dresses he seemed to have for some reason or other, she had ribbons hanging from all over the place. Kizuki was betting against herself that she was going to accidentally step on one of the ribbons and fall down.  
Tomoki was tucked firmly under her left arm, and she clutched at something sharply with her right.  
"Annou... " She started again.  
"You seemed upset that Watari cut his hair, so..." Kizuki trailed off, and quickly rushed to the secretary, dumping something into his lap and practically ran out of the room.  
  
Briefly wary, Tatsumi looked down and was startled to find a long lock of golden hair laying peacefully on his thigh.  
  
"Oi! Tatsumiiiiiiii, have you seen Kizuki?" Watari stuck his head into inside the other man's office, and blinked blandly as Tatsumi reacted like he'd been hit with burning coals. He brushed something off his suit with a guilty look on his face, and Watari looked at him with arched eyebrows.  
"Are you feeling all right?"  
"I'm fine." Tatsumi replied firmly, picking up his glasses.  
"She was just here a few seconds ago."  
"Ahah! Thought I heard her voice." Nodding to himself, the scientist began to retreat out into the hall when he pushed his head back inside.  
"Oy, Tatsumi, eat something will you? You look as pale as a ghost... erm. No pun intended." Waving his hand cheerfully, Watari turned into the corner, glancing in one direction, and then another. He decided to go left, and walked ahead, running a hand through his hair. It had grown a few inches, now brushing comfortably around his shoulders. In a day or two, it would be back to normal length, and he was grateful. It was weird to not have his 'normal' hair... although, he had to admit, it wasn't really *bad*....  
  
*~*~*~   
  
The rain clouds Tsuzuki had noticed earlier had gathered together, and a faint drizzle was descending over the city. Slow and weak at first, it stubbornly continued until everything was soaked and turned the city into a gray world.  
Hisoka stood with his arms crossed against his chest, blue jacket waving a little with the breeze that was beginning to pick up. Both of them were under the protection of Tsuzuki's umbrella, but it wasn't going to do them anymore good if the winds kept persisting.  
Across from them, the police was finishing picking up the mess that the triple car pile up had made, caused by Hitomi Fukisaki losing control of her car for unknown reasons. The official reports mentioned a fainting spell, but the shinigami felt sure that it was something else. Her Uncle and Aunt had died the same way. For some odd reason they'd lost control of their cars.  
Tsuzuki tried to be cheerful.  
"You know, maybe we've been looking at this all wrong, and it's the cars that have a grudge against the family."  
Green eyes peered at him below a golden fringe, and Hisoka did not look amused. Instead, he looked back at the carnage of metal and gestured. "Nothing. She died, but there's no feeling of death at all." He announced flatly.  
"It's unnerving."  
Tsuzuki nodded, and stood silently for a long time, trying to look for the next possibility.  
"What do we do now? We can't wait for... Sogetsu to strike. Even if we do, it doesn't seem to help at all."  
"But we have something that he wants."  
"Kizuki." Tsuzuki nodded.  
"Although, he might not really go after her."  
"He will." Hisoka answered tonelessly.  
"Hitomi was just... a filler, for whatever he's doing, but what he really wants is Kizuki. He might kill off other distanced relatives in the meanwhile, but Kizuki is the prize, for some reason or another."  
  
*~*~*~   
  
1. Sempai: Typically used for someone that's older/and or in a higher position than you. Say Sayeka's in tenth grade, and Sogetsu's in 11th, so he's her 'sempai'. 


End file.
